Was a fun night! Gotta give credit to all the promoters and DJ's who worked hard to create a good time for all the party people. I'm sure as the weather continues to warm up, there will be plenty more crazy outdoor events ahead!

Thanks for your insights Yoshin!

Don't worry I made DESI up :)

Thanks for the input DynV!

I just wrote this looooooooooong paper on Rave culture for my Youth Culture class. Its due Wednesday so it would be awesome if anyone took the time to read it and make any suggestions or comments. Its in the form of a series of fictional interviews.

Foreword: The following “interviews” are entirely fictional, and Dessi, Mike, and Lizard are entirely products of my imagination.

I decided to do a cover article on the ‘Rave’ subculture after hearing about a proposed law called the ‘Dance Event Safety Initiative’ or DESI. Proponents of the law claim that it would help regulate events to ensure proper safety standards, while opponents allege that it is designed to target and eliminate the ‘Rave’ scene as we know it. As part of my research, I have decided to interview youth that attend Raves. I created a profile on [ Purerave.com ] a social networking site for ravers, and sent messages to a handful of youth. My first interview subject is called Dessi, an 18 year old female.

I met Dessi on May 18th, at a local Starbucks cafe. She’s an attractive, bubbly girl, wearing a bright pink hoodie, baggy black jeans, and Adidas sneakers. Both her wrists are covered in bracelets of multi-coloured beads. The following is a transcript of our interview.

Reporter: Nice to meet you Dessi. Tell me a little about yourself and how you got into the Rave scene.

Dessi: I grew up in a suburb of Toronto, and moved Downtown to go to U of T. I’m in my first year of university, doing a major in Sociology. Back in October, this one night I was supposed to go to this dude’s birthday party, but this girl I just met, Lita, said we should go raving instead. I’d never gone to a rave before and didn’t really know what to expect, but it was one of the best night of my life. I’ve been really into the scene ever since.

Reporter: Can you describe your first party?

Dessi: It was in some random community center in a really far-off part of town that they rented for the party. I was kind of nervous on the way there, but Lita told me not to worry, that she’d gone to tons of Raves before and that they were awesome. I stepped through the door, and it was full of kids dancing, but not like anything I’d ever seen before. Everyone seemed so happy and energetic, the speakers were blasting super fast beats, and the costumes....everyone was wearing really bright and colourful clothing, kids had pacifiers in their mouths and stuffed animals, it was just unreal. I felt kind of awkward at first because I wasn’t wearing special, just normal drab clothes, but it was okay. Lita introduced me to some people and told them that it was my first party. Everyone was super nice to me even though I was a newbie, they gave me some of their candy bracelets and told me about the DJ’s that were playing that night. The rest of that night was just a giant blur, but by the time me and Lita left the party, the sun was already rising and I’d just had the most amazing night of my life.

Reporter: You mentioned the crazy costumes that Ravers wear. Can you tell me more about the Rave style? Why do party kids wear those clothes?

Dessi: The most popular style right now is Candy...and the people that wear that style are called candy kids. It’s basically like getting in touch with your inner child again, and expressing it in the clothes you wear...we love bright and bold colors. Candy kids buy coloured beads and make candy bracelets, and then we can give them away or trade them during parties. I only wear a few during the week, it’s like a symbol of being a raver...and a great way to recognise other ravers when you’re waiting for the bus for hanging out in the mall. Lots of candy kids wear pacifiers at parties, some people say the main reason is to prevent you from grinding your teeth when you’re on E, but I think it looks really cute and wear one even if I’m not dosing. Candy kids also love wearing T-shirts with their favourite cartoon character from when they were little, even Sesame street shirts. It’s not that we’re juvenile or childish, it’s just that we remember the joy of being a little kid and express that in our clothing, and that we believe in PLUR.

Reporter: Can you explain what PLUR means?

Dessi: PLUR is basically the Rave motto, it stands for Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect. It’s like a code for how ravers should behave to each other, and even to people that aren’t in the scene. Some people make fun of PLUR and say that it only exists when you’re high, but I love PLUR. When you think about it, if more people acted according to PLUR, then so many of the problems we have in the world would disappear. If people could just learn to be peaceful, love each other, show each other respect and be like one big family, then there wouldn’t be so much war and violence and hatred in the world. Maybe it sounds kind of naive, but I really believe in it.

Reporter: Can you tell me how going to a Rave is different from going to a club?

Dessi: Are you kidding? Going to a Rave is TOTALLY different. I don’t even go to clubs anymore, because they aren’t really that much fun. People go to clubs either to get really drunk and wasted, or to try and pick up. One of the things in the Rave scene is that it’s like a big family, we all know each other, and nobody tries to take advantage of you or hit on you obnoxiously. Sure, if you meet someone at a party you like, it’s cool to hook up with them or date them, but it’s totally different from the way things happen at clubs.

Reporter: So you’re saying that people interact differently at Raves?

Dessi: That’s exactly it. You probably know this already, but a lot of people do Ecstasy at
Raves. And when you’re high on E, it’s like it encourages you to really open up and talk to people without worrying about how they’re going to judge you. About a month ago, I met this girl called Laura at a party. We were hanging out in the chill room, sitting on these really comfy couches, and we just started talking for hours. I never even knew Laura before, and we were telling each other all the personal details like the guys we’d dated before and our parents and whether they knew we raved or not. Also when you’re high, touch feels so amazing, so we gave each other massages. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but we started making out too. It’s not like we were making out just to get guys’ attention, like so many club girls do, it just felt right. We still see each other sometimes and do things together. I never thought I was into girls before, but now I think I might actually be bi.

Reporter: You mentioned the use of Ecstasy in the Rave scene. Can you tell me more about that?

Dessi: I don’t want you to think that going to a Rave is all about getting high, because I know that’s what a lot of older people think and that’s how it’s talked about in the media. It’s totally untrue. I know some kids that go to raves and have never even tried E. That said, I think Ecstasy is amazing. It doesn’t even feel like your wasted or messed up the way drinking does, it just gives you energy and makes you feel happy and connected with other people. I can’t believe that alcohol is legal and ecstasy isn’t, it just doesn’t make any sense. I can’t even stand being around drunk people anymore, they’re so obnoxious. The only think I don’t like about E is the comedown. Sometimes the day after dosing, I just feel really depressed and tired for no real reason. Maybe because I know I have to face classes and square people and wait for the next party to come around.

Reporter: Speaking of classes, how has going to Raves affected your life as a student?

Dessi: To be honest, it isn’t always easy balancing partying and school. Going to a rave means spending the whole night at the event, so I need the next day to rest and recover. Then, it’s harder to concentrate in my classes when really I’m just thinking about all the things that happened during the last Rave. I’m doing okay in school, I’m passing all my classes, but I’m not the straight-A student I was in high school anymore. Actually, I’m a little worried my parents are going to flip out when they see my grades for this semester.

Reporter: So do you plan on Raving much in the future?

Dessi: Yes I do, because there’s nothing else like it. Sometimes when I’m at a really good party and everything feels right, I start to think that the party scene could actually help change things out there in the world. There’s a song I really like called “Children of the Night” and it’s about the younger generation uniting and making the world a better place. When I see how wasteful and violent the human race can be it makes me really said, but then when I see how beautiful the rave scene is it give me hope that things could change. Because if the younger generation grows up experiencing Rave culture and PLUR and carries that message when they grow up, then they won’t continue all the violence and hatred that’s been happening so much lately.

Reporter: Thank you Dessi, its been a pleasure speaking to you.

My second interview subject is Mike, a nineteen year old male. He’s wearing baggy jeans and a black hoodie. His skin is pale and unhealthy looking. The following is a transcript of out interview.

Reporter: Nice to meet you, Mike. Tell me a little about yourself and how you got into the Rave scene.

Mike: I started going to parties when I was sixteen, four years ago. I was at a friend’s house party when someone suggested we go to a rave, we all packed into some guy’s car and partied all night. I think I did two E’s that party.

Reporter: What happened next?

Mike: I started hanging out with a new group of friends, and we were all really into the scene. Not that many people know this, but I used to be a candy kid. Yeah, that’s right, picture me wearing candy bracelets and twirling fucking glow sticks! It feels like a million years ago. It’s incredible how naive we all were back then.
Reporter: What do you mean by that?

Mike: I guess we just didn’t have a clue what we were getting into; the lifestyle, the drugs, the late nights. We did whatever seemed like fun at the time, without really thinking how it was going to change things down the road. Of course I had a good time back then, it was really amazing. I met Dana, my first girlfriend, at a party. My friends and her friends all started hanging out, we would all party together and go back to someone’s place and just talk, watch videos, and do bumps of K [reporter’s note: K is a slang term for Ketamine, a party drug] until it was time to go home. Me and Dana lost our virginity to each other, we were both high on E and it was the best thing
ever. You can’t imagine how good it feels to make love on Ecstasy, it feels like every part of your body is hyper sensitive.

Reporter: Why caused things to change?

Mike: Some of my friends started getting into drugs too much. I remember one morning, after a party, two of my friends started yelling at each other over the proper size of a bump of K. Things started going downhill. I was doing three or four E’s most weekends, and my parents started to notice that I was acting moody all the time. Every time I went to a rave I told them I was going to sleep over with a friend, they didn’t have a clue. But the turning point came the weekend of my seventeenth birthday. My regular dealer wouldn’t answer his phone, so I bought pills from this guy I knew from the scene. I shouldn’t have trusted him. The pills weren’t real E’s, they were cut with DXM or something else and I overdosed on them.

Reporter: What happened, exactly?

Mike: I’d taken three of the pills, I was at the rave with my friends, and my heart started beating super fast. It was the worst feeling ever, like my heart was going to explode out of my chest. I couldn’t even move, I was just lying on the floor hoping it would be over. My girlfriend Dana panicked and called 911, and I spent my seventeenth birthday at the hospital getting my stomach pumped.

Reporter: So your parents were contacted?

Mike: They flipped out. Obviously, I’d been lying to them for months, and in one night all the lies came out. They found out I’d been going to raves, doing drugs, everything. The day I came home from the hospital, my parents told me they were sending me away to a behavioural modification program called Youth Care in the States. They were going to send me there for a whole year, until my eighteenth birthday. I called Dana and we spent hours crying on the phone. She promised me that she would wait for me, no matter what. Funny thing is, I actually believed her.

Reporter: Tell me about the year you spent in Youth Care.

Mike: It was really regimented and strict. At the beginning you couldn’t even take a piss without someone else being in the same room. The more you co-operate you move up levels, and then you get more privileges. I was doing pretty good for the first couple of months, until I got a letter from my friend saying that Dana had started dating another guy in the scene. She was the love of my life, and I lost it. I spent the next month refusing to talk to anyone, basically just crying myself to sleep every night. Eventually I pulled myself together and started talking about things with the therapists in the program. They were always analyzing you 24/7, but I did learn a lot from them.

Reporter: When you returned home, did you return to the Rave scene?

Mike: Not at first. I went back to school to try and finish my high school diploma, and for the first few months I was really on the straight and narrow. I didn’t even talk to my old friends or party, just studied and played video games for hours. Eventually the loneliness got too much. I wasn’t supposed to talk to my old friends because they were still partying and doing drugs, but I couldn’t really make new friends either. Nobody that hadn’t been in the scene could really understand me, they all just heard rumours that I was a giant fuck up. Eventually I caved in and called Derrick, one of my old Rave friends. We started hanging out, just on weekdays at first, but then one week he told me that my favourite DJ, Luna-C, was going to spin at the upcoming party. I know I shouldn’t have gone, but I really missed the scene. When you’re into raves, it takes over your life. And once I stopped, it was like there was this giant hole in my life, and nothing could fill it. So I went to the party and took an E.

Reporter: Did your parents find out?

Mike: The day I got home from the Luna-C party, my mom was crying and my dad was demanding that I take this drug piss test he’d bought from the pharmacy. I was so furious, I had worked so hard and done so many things right, and they were totally over-reacting. I refused to take the piss test, and my dad threatened to call the cops. I just stormed out and slept over at Derrick’s place, and I’ve been living with Derrick ever since.

Reporter: Have you been going to school or working since then?

Mike: My friend Derrick is a dealer, he sells weed, E’s, and ketamine to party kids. Derrick told me that I could live with him rent-free as long as I helped him with his business, doing deliveries, small sales, and other errands. I wasn’t prepared to face my parents, so I stopped going to school and became Derrick’s drug runner. I’ve been doing it for the past year. It was fun at first, being back in the scene and seeing all the kids, but it also got old pretty fast. Nowadays I get high so that I can forget the truth, but then the truth boomerangs and kicks my ass. The truth is that I’m a loser. I didn’t finish high school, I lost the only girl I ever loved, and basically all I do is sell drugs to kids that are heading down the same road to nowhere. Me and Derrick have started snorting heroin. It makes me feel comfortable and I can relax and stop stressing over things, and that’s what I need right now. Derrick says that he would never shoot up, but honestly I don’t even care if I live or die anymore. Because honestly, what kind of future is there for me?

Reporter: Do you still go to raves? How do you feel about the scene?

Mike: I go to a party almost every weekend, but now it’s strictly business. I don’t dance or socialize anymore, I go to sell drugs period. All the kids know me, they think I’m a “jaded raver” because I wear dark hoodies and stand by myself in the corner waiting for a sale. They don’t know half of what I’ve been through, they’re just stupid little kids like I was when I was sixteen.
Reporter: Any final thoughts on the Rave scene?
Mike: Honestly, going to parties depresses me. I see all these new kids talking about PLUR and how amazing raves are, but when you really take a hard look at it, a rave is just a place where troubled kids go to escape society and do drugs. It’s all Peace and Love and candies and hugs, at least until the high wears off and reality hits. Then the cracks begin to show. I just wish someone could’ve explained things to me back when I was a new kid in the scene, but honestly I doubt I would’ve even listened, just how none of the new kids pay attention to me. By the time you’re experienced enough to understand, it’s already too late.

My final interview subject is a twenty-four year old male who goes by the pseudonym “Lizard”. He is listed on [ Purerave.com ] as a “Rave promoter” – someone who organizes events. Lizard arrives to our meeting dressed in smart business casual attire, but his piercings and sleeve tattoo suggests an alternative lifestyle away from the office.

Reporter: Nice to meet you, Lizard. Tell me a little about yourself and your involvement in the Rave scene.

Lizard: I was into electronic music way before I even knew what a rave was. I’ve always been really into computers and fooling around with new technology, so when I heard techno music for the first time – music without any instruments, entirely produced using computers and software – it blew my mind. I think I must have been 15 at the time. It really seemed like computers were opening up whole new ways of living, and I wanted to part of the revolution. I was learning computer programming, web site creation, even started experimenting with making my own beats using
Fruity Loops.

Reporter: So when did you finally experience your first Rave?

Lizard: When I heard that Raves were the place to go if you wanted to hear techno, for sure I wanted to experience it. I went to my first Rave on my seventeenth birthday, with one of my good friends who was also producing music with me. It was amazing to find a community of people who were into the same music that I was in, but at the same time I kind of realized that a lot of kids were in the scene for different reasons than me.

Reporter: What do you mean by that?

Lizard: I guess I was mostly there for the music, listening to how the DJ would take two tracks and make them blend so that you can’t even tell where one track ends and the next one starts. I would go and vibe to the music and dance, but I was never into the whole Candy thing or getting wasted on tons of pills. I did try E a few times and still do it occasionally. But the music was always enough of a drug. Sometimes I would talk to kids who didn’t know the first thing about electronic music, they were just there for the chemicals or because that’s where their friends went to party. That really turned me off. I did find a few party kids who basically shared the same interests as me, we’d talk for hours about computers and programming and making beats. Some of them are still my best friends to this day.

Reporter: I understand you currently organize Raves. How did you get involved in that?

Lizard: It came down to me and some of my friends complaining about the lack of hard, dark electronic music in the scene back in the day. Most of the parties back then were dominated by Happy Hardcore, which can be fun and all, but just isn’t really my thing. We decided that if we wanted to hear our kind of beats being played, the best way would be to throw parties ourselves. A few of our crew had turntables and were learning how to DJ, so we decided to save up over the summer, pool our money together, and buy a sound system. That’s the key ingredient in throwing a Rave – a good sound system can cost several thousand dollars, but once you have one, you can throw parties anywhere you can find a space to liberate.

Reporter: What do you mean by ‘liberating space’?

Lizard: If you look at our city, practically every square foot of space has been appropriated by the capitalist system and given some sort of purpose. Here’s the mall where you shop. Here’s the cubicle where you work. Here’s the concert hall where you go to watch some manufactured pop star. It’s all about money, all the about oiling the wheels of the corporate machine. When we’re planning on a party, we hunt the city for a location that we can liberate from its intended purpose and use for something completely different – music, dance, and art. Sometimes we have parties in open spaces in the summer, and in the winter we look for unrented warehouses or other unused spaces that we can take over for one night. It’s risky, we have to take precautions to throw the police off our trail, but so far our parties have never been busted. What we usually do is set up an info line – a number to call the day of the party. You call the info line, you get a message telling you to meet at a location. Then we usually rent a bus to take the kids from the meeting place to the actual event.

Reporter: Wouldn’t it just be easier to rent a club?

Lizard: It would be a hell of a lot easier. But frankly, I think we’d lose something if we moved our parties to a mainstream location. First of all, our scene is basically made up of freaks – kids that don’t really fit into mainstream consume society. That doesn’t mean their bad or dangerous of anything, just that they love to dance and express themselves and you can’t really have that in a club. A mainstream club is all about corporate tie-ins, promoting this brand of beer, this car, this energy drink. Our scene isn’t receptive to that, and I don’t think club owners are really receptive to our kind of people anyway – they prefer yuppies with cash to spend. We just want a place to be free, to listen to good beats, to dance, and that’s what we provide when we liberate a space.

Reporter: How do you go about organizing a party?

Lizard: It’s funny because everybody and nobody is responsible for making a party happen. Everyone contributes in some way, so it’s not fair to give any one person credit. Some people scout the city for locations. Some people DJ. Some people do the event decoration, some handle security, some design the flyer. My contribution is that I’m one of the owners of the sound system we use, and I also spin occasionally. But if someone comes up to me and asks who organized this party, all I can do is grin and point to two dozen or so people because literally that’s how many people are involved in one way or another. Even the kids that just come to dance, they’re also contributing something. They’re bringing their energy and spirit and love for the scene, and if we didn’t have that, then it wouldn’t even be worth having a party in the first place.

Reporter: Are your parties profitable?

Lizard: You’ve got to be joking, right? Counting all the money I’ve spent on the sound system, DJ equipment , records, and what not, I’ve spent several thousand dollars on the scene. Some of our parties are free, and even when we do charge cover, we’re just trying to recoup our expenses. If we can’t find a free space, we do sometimes rent venues – we’ve had parties in loft buildings, dance studios, you name it. Then we have to rent a shuttle bus to take all the kids to the location. I’m making pretty good money as an IT consultant right now, so I don’t really care about losing cash on events, but if I was in it for the money then throwing Raves would be the last thing on my mind.

Reporter: Are you ever concerned about the drug use that may happen at your events?

Lizard: I knew you were going to ask about drugs sooner or later. Yes, they’re probably kids who get high at our events. We hope kids will be responsible and we encourage harm reduction. That’s about being informed and making smart choices, and if you’re going to do drugs, at least take every measure to do them safely. There’s an organization called TRIP that gives out informational pamphlets about different drugs, and we always give them a space to set up a booth at our events. We always make sure that there’s a source of free water to keep everyone hydrated. And one of my friends is a registered nurse, so there’s always someone on hand to give first-aid. Of course, there are always kids who take things too far. I don’t really talk much with most of the new kids who show up at the events, they know who I am but we’re at different points in our lives. Drug abuse is a big problem in society, and not only with illegal drugs, but with alcohol and tobacco. It’s certainly not just in the Rave scene. We try to deal with it the best we can. Sometimes I see kids who show up at our parties all the time, and then one day they’re gone. I like to think that they’ve just grown up or moved on, but I know that at least some of the kids in our scene will end up having to go to rehab or worse. At the end of the day, my love for the music and for the community outweighs all the negatives, and that’s why I keep throwing events.

Reporter: Thank you for your time, Lizard.

Notes: After speaking to three subjects, I’m still at a loss for what kind of story I should write. Dessi, Mike and Lizard have had such different experiences in the Rave scene, I’m still searching for a common thread. The only universal theme I can think of is that being in the scene has had a really profound impact on all of their lives, for better or for worse. It’s almost like this force that comes in like a whirlwind and sweeps you up in it, and when you finally get spit out from the scene you aren’t the same person as when you got into it. Life is all about change, and there’s nothing that will change you more than getting involved in the Rave scene. Do I think Raves should be shut down? I really don’t know.

Danny514

add me!

The effects of K and crystal are totally different.

If you´ve ever done K before, theres no way you could do a bump of crystal and mistake it for K.

No fucking way.

About a month ago I made a profile on [ couchsufing.com ] Basically, its a free social networking site with a twist - Whenever you are travelling somewhere new, you search for members that live in that city, and they will let you crash at their place for free. I just had my first Couch surfing experience - I stayed with a girl called Camila in Bogota, Colombia, for six days. It was awesome beyond words. I got to stay in a beautiful, central apartment, with a maid that cooked me free meals. Camila introduced me to all her friends and I got to party with them at Bogota's coolest clubs. Of course I saved tons of money, but the thing that made it really worthwhile was meeting locals and hearing their perspective on life in Colombia. Now I already have a person lined up for Bucaramanga, the next major city I´m going to (CS works better in cities than small towns) and I´ll probably crash with someone in Caracas, Venezuala too. It really works.

That video is OFF THE HOOK!

Mine ----> William Street lofts, hands down.

So many awesome parties have been held there over the years, from oldskool IDJ parties six years ago, the massive After Dark Production parties, right through to the present day.

What makes it cool? So many huge lofts, ghetto-industrial vibe, home to many creative people.

What´s yours?

I don´t want to read 123 pages of crap, so anyone care to summarize?

"Ayahuasca is a term most commonly used to describe a combination of plants and/or chemicals usually consisting of at least some harmala alkaloids and some N,N-DMT. The word 'ayahuasca' is from the Quechuan language and is used for both the harmala-containing vine Banisteriopsis caapi and the medicinal/divinatory brew made from it. The brew is a traditional South American preparation most commonly combining the Banisteriopsis caapi vine (harmaline/harmine as MAOI) and Psychotria viridis leaves (DMT). This combination is important because N,N-DMT is broken down quickly in the body by the Mono Amine Oxidase (MAO) enzyme and so it is not orally psychoactive unless combined with an MAO-Inihibitor, such as the harmala alkaloids.

Ayahuasca is traditionally prepared by boiling or soaking the stems of B. caapi along with various admixture plants, most commonly the N,N-DMT containing leaves of the Psychotria viridis bush. The traditional brews can also contain many other plants including tobacco, brugmansia, datura, and a long list of others."

RIP, Sammy.

This guy was a true warrior in mind, body and spirit.

At the English institute in which I work, Paul stands out. A mixed Colombian-Brit of 30, Paul has a gregarious manner, and a way of flirting with the ladies that makes him instantly likable. When, during a conversation about alternative medicine, Paul mentioned that he had participated in ayahuasca ceremonies with a shaman from the Amazon, I let him know that I would be thrilled to be a part of the next one.

So, last Saturday afternoon, we packed on a bus heading from the bustling, dusty city of Barranquilla to the village of Puerto Colombia, situated on the Carribean coast where the deep blue waters meet the lush green mountains of the sierra nevada range. By the time we disembarked from the bus, nightfall was quickly approaching and we were forced to hike to the ceremonial site in the darkness. It was a steep hike up a mountainside, made more difficult by the darkness, and I had to take my sandals off and walk barefoot to get a suitable grip on the slick rocks.

The ceremonial site was a circular clearing about 20 metres in diameter, surrounded by dense foliage. The trees branched up to form a canopy above the clearing, so that only a small patch of open sky allowed the light from the stars to illuminate the site. In the midst of the clearning a fierce bonfire roared, and arranged in a circle around the bonfire, the people had arranged plastic tarp and blankets on which to spend the night.

There were about thirty Colombians participating in the ceremonony, most in their 20´s and 30´s, and all adorned in ¨hippy¨ clothes - homespun shoulder bags, baggy pants, bright t-shirts. Several participatns had brought instruments, and sat around chatting in anticipation of the ceremony. A few of the people spoke English, and everyone I talked to expressed an almost feverish devotion to the use of ayahuasca - it would change my life, it would allow me to see spirits, it would open my eyes. I never met a group of people so enthusiastic for psychedelics, displaying none of the ambivalence that I´ve often seen in people who trip.

The shaman began delivering a sermon. It was in Spanish, so I couldnt understand very much, but he spoke of the significance of the journey we were about to undergo, the unique portal of energy we were situated on, and the sacredness of the ayahuasca plant. The ceremony had the air of a religious event - people chanted hymns to pachamama, the spirit of mother earth, raised their hands to the sky, and bowed their heads to the earth. The prayers complete, we formed a line in front of the shaman to receive a blessing and to down a cup of ayahuasca.

The plant brew tasted thick and sweet but not unpleasant. I sat down on my blanket waiting for something to happen. Within thirty minutes, I began feeling a pit of energy build up in the stomach, and an intense feeling of joy at the scene in front of me. The beat of the drums, the singing of the shaman, stirred something within me, and I started dancing with abandon.

I was not prepared for what would happen next, however. All around me, people began vomiting terribly. The night air was filled with groans, curses, and screams, as it seemed that dozens of streams of vomit were being launched at once. It felt like walking into the emergency ward of a hospial during a cholera epidemic. I still felt pretty good, and my ego fooled me into thinking I could control my growing sense of nausea and not purge. But it was no use fighting it. The feeling of sickness grew and grew and grew, until I realized I couldnt hold back anymore, and was soon hunched over along with everyone else emptying my guts into the ground.

The trees around me started breathing in and out wildly, and I became dizzy and overhelmed at the hallucinations filling my field of vision. I lay down in the dirt hoping to regain my sense of balance, hunched in the fetal position, and began drifting in and out of consciousness. I heard the beating of drums, screams, cries, laughter, and the uncontrollable sobbing of a woman that seemed to go on forever. I heard a rasp voice screaming in English, ¨Make it stop! I can´t take this anymore!¨ over and over. I would regain consciouness momentarily and try to sit up, but the feeling of dizziness overhwelmed me and I puked into the earth again and again.

I remember ruminating about my life in endless thought loops. I tried to understand how on earth I had ended up here, in this county, in this state of weakness and pain. In my mind´s eye, I could see the face of the girl I had started dating a week earlier, and I realized that I had began to fall for her - and I tried to harness all the lessons I had learned over the years from failed relationships to keep this one from collapsing. I thought about Sam, whose death I had learned of the day before, and thought about death and how it constantly lurked in the shadows waiting to pounce. I wondered if there was a moment that Sam realized that he wasn´t going to make it, and how he felt as he entered the void. Panic? Resignation? Acceptance?

I gradually began coming to and realized that the peak of the ayahuasca trip was well over. It seemed that the cries, misery, and pain of the previous hours had begun fading away, and those that were still awake were dancing joyously once more. I looked up through the canopy above and could see dozens of stars shooting through the sky, liberated from their fixed location by the hallucinations of the ayahuasca plant. I began regaining my composure and allowed my mind to fixate on the beautiful voice of the shaman as he sang hyms to Pachamama. As I drifted off to sleep, the sky began turning the bright pink of dawn. The ceremony had come to a close.

I was woken up after only two hours, but felt strangely well rested. I looked around at the people around me, illuminated by the soft morning light. Everyone´s clothes were full of dirt, eyes wild with the experiences of the night before, but almost everyone seemed amazingly calm and at ease. We packed our belongings and began trekking back down the mountainside.

Illuminated by the morning light, the foliage appeard amazingly rich and vivid. We came to a lookout point, and for miles in front of me the rolling green jungle spilled down in the blue ocean. It felt like my eyes had been cleared of a layer of film that had obscured the overwhelming beauty of my surroundings up until this instant. A new moment was born.

What make a virginity pledge when you can make a pregnancy pledge instead?


AWESOME.

All your toilet complaints will be solved with THREE bathrooms:

(1) A GUY bathroom.
(2) A GIRL bathroom.
(3) and a DRUG bathroom.

What´s going on now?

ITS LINDYS THIRDAYYYY!!!








(Happy Birthday LindsAy!

Taste the Failure!

This thread aint to bitch about parties in the past that were problematic.

Its to inform the new kids who are planning their first party, or are considering throwing a party,
that making a rave go down smoothly does involve some planning, foresight, resources, and preparation.

Because it seems these days being a promoter is the new fad and everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon.

Which is all well and good, we need more quality events. What we don't need is kids being overly ambitious,
trying to throw a party without much experience or know-how, and ending up with sub-par events that
hurt the reputation of this scene, and make ravers not want to risk their time and money on
sketchy parties by staying home.

Yeah that Host One is a fucking douche.

I booked him for a free party the week before. Guess what that motherfucker did?

He showed up on time, set up his equipment, dropped a killer set, and left.

What a scumbag, eh?

**Not in responce to any particular promoter or party. Feel free to comment/add to/modify the list, which are (or should be) pretty common sense**

1. If an event is promoted as a "Rave" it should have (at a minimum) a proper sound system and a dancefloor big enough to accomodate the number of attendees.

2. Make sure the lineup (especially out-of-towners) is 100% confirmed before selling advance tickets.

3. DJ's should be informed in advance what (if anything) they will be paid and should be paid on the night of the event, whether or not the party makes money.

4. Parties should only be held in reasonably safe venues. At large events, security and first aid should be made available.

5. If a party is cancelled or modified, refunds should be made available to those who have bought tickets in advance.

6. Unless informed otherwise in advance, the venue should be in a location accessible by public transportation (or a shuttle bus should be available).

7. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, take into account your resources, experience, and level of expertise when planning an event. If this is your first large rave, don't be overly ambitious. Most disasters seem to happen when promoters attempt to throw big, ambitious events without much experience, and quickly find themselves in way over their heads.

Cool dude looking to chill!

Nice avatar, Fred!

Muahahaha.

^^ Yeah, seriously.

It seems that a couple of people on this thread need to take their sarcasm detector for a tune up!

That. Is. Fucking. Amazing.

Don't harmeth yourself Dee we luv you!!!

Theres a HUGE difference between a party that has a completely random assortment of DJ's (usually friends of the promoter) playing all sorts of styles in a random and haphazard fashion, to a party that spans multiple genres of music in a well planned out and thoughtful manner.

Theres also a HUGE difference between a promoter that charges cover, and then books DJ's without skills who will play for free, to a party that is free based on the principle of throwing a non-commercialized event featuring talented DJ's who are doing it for the love of the music.

So while much of the criticism in this thread is valid on a certain level, ya gotta choose your words more carefully. Promoters who book their friends as DJs, charge exhorbitant cover and then run away with the ticket money without paying the DJs ought to be blasted to smithereens. However IMHO the FreeTekno movement is where its at and if you knock free parties you'll be knocking a legacy of free parties stretching all the way back to the original huge outdoor events in Europe in the 90's.

Free parties all the way!

Bwahahahahaha.

Just so nobody feels cheated, I'm offering anyone who attended Digital Nomad a full refund on the ticket price if you felt like u got gipped. That's right folks, a FULL REFUND!! Just PM me and you will get a cheque in the mail for the complete monetary value of the ticket!

P.S. Loft partiez are the shit!!

Lmao. I dont come up with very original names at six in the morning. It will be changed to something cooler, fresher, and (maybe) more original:

[ www.rave.ca ]

[ www.rave.ca ]

Dialekt played an amazing set upstairs! I hadn't heard him play before last nite but he def should have been playing in the main room. Oh well, next time.

Maybe the post was arrogant and useless but it was pretty darn funny. Eric ya gotta stop posting my ribs are going to start cracking from laughing too hard!

No Eric YOU fucking rock! I'm almost sorry I'm leaving now, fuck you guys might really get evicted if the party stops for just one second, who's going to take up the challenge of topping this night? Its gonna be a nonstop party mo'fuckaz!!

I'm going to miss you too Lindsay! Come to Colombia with me dammit!

I had a fucking blast last night guys!

Despite the shitty weather, short notice, and bothersome police, we made this party happen, thanks in no small part to the incredible contributions of my friends.

We started the ball rolling around 9pm with a Bassic vs. Plan C tag. As the crowd began to swell into the night, the rave kids generally hung out upstairs chatting and being all PLUR-y in the king of chill lofts, while the junglists and drunks got their groove on downstairs. The jungle loft got so crowded around 1am that there was barely room to dance, so people generally milled about while enjoying the beats of Nitrous, the oldskool jungle of Recoil, and the hard dnb of Host One. After Michael filled in for Screwhead, the big guns Corey K and Mayday took to the decks and brought the place down with big tunes and solid mixes.

The dancefloor really exploded when Moebius took the decks, playing his trademarked hard tek that brought out the hardcore in everyone. The trance'n'bass anthems that have been buried deep in the recesses of my mind for six years finally saw the light of day as Galaksy tore the place down with tunes that instantly recalled some of the best jungle loft parties of five years back. After the old blood had their turn on the decks, the newest up and coming DJ Human Disease impressed us all with his first every party gig. The crowd didn't want to stop dancing and were moving until the final beat dropped.

What ultimately made the night so fucking A were all the kids old and new that brought good vibes to the jam. All the [ Rave.ca ] oldskoolers like Gen-J, Kafwin, Pookie, Matt, Nimi, Cherryonionkiss, Jeff, etc made this party into a Ravewave reunion, while the next generation of party kids brought their enthusiasm and youth in abundance! I won't even start naming all the people who made this night so awesome, the list would go on for pages, but the bottom line was that pretty much everyone I wanted to see before I left was there!

This party was a collabarative effort involving the hard work and contributions of many, many people - from the DJ's who brought their tunes, to the loft hosts who graciously opened up their homes, to all the neighbors that had to put up with our antics at an ungodly hour.

This is a night I will never forget!

I hope you feel better man!

We're gonna miss you for sure.

The party is tonight kids!! Don't forget to call the infoline for the location.

PS. There are neighbors in the building who need their peace and quiet, so we ask that you do not talk loudly in the corridors.

Crazay! Everyone wants a piece of the one and only Galaks'!

The location has been confirmed! Call (514) 445-5397 for details.

CHEMICAL WARFARE IS APPROACHING!

One more night till we rock the casbah!

If you want the address, ADD YOURSELF TO THE ATTENDING LIST and you shall receive!

Y'all know how much I love trungle!!

That was a waaaaay below the belt, Dee :P

I still love you though.